Adobe AIR
Adobe launched a project code-named Apollo in 2006. It was officially released to the public in mid 2007 named AIR (Adobe Integrated Runtime). It was created to provide cross-operating system runtime to build and deploy rich Internet applications to the desktop. Since the merge of Adobe and Macromedia, Adobe now provides the tools for the .pdf (Acrobat) and .swf (Flash) formats. These are the most widely used plug-ins on the Internet, exceeding any single browser or operating system.
The challenge web developers have faced since the beginning of the Internet is that the web applications could not interact with the local machine. This was mainly for safety, but placed sever limitations on what could happen. The advent of AIR has brought a change. There are other technologies attempting to accomplish this task, but none have the web clout of Adobe. AIR looks to open up possibilities that have not existed before.
